GREAT 2016 ALBUMS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED! – PART 4

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LONDON GUITAR ACADEMY

GREAT 2016 ALBUMS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED! – PART 4

With the February cold weather starting to bite, LGA reviewer, Paul Wood, warms up his ears with a look back over his favourite albums of 2016. These are albums which are probably not going to appear on the “popular” mainstream lists of albums of the year, but are albums which we certainly think are worthy of your attention.

Part 4’s album selection is “My Way Home” by Eli “Paperboy” Reed.

For this album (his fifth) Eli “Paperboy” Reed (guitar/vocals) has put together a basic “brass free” band of:

JB Flatt: Organ

Michael Isvara Montgomery: Bass

Noah James Rubin: Drums

Loren Humphrey: Percussion

The stripped down nature of the band is emphasized in the sound of the album. Whereas the previous Warner Brothers album “Nights Like This” took the classic Reed ‘60s soul sound and gave it a smooth studio pop/soul polish, this album (on independent label Yep Roc) is a real throwback to his gospel/soul/R’n’B roots.

The sound throughout is reminiscent of the 60s analogue age, it’s as if the polished digital era had never been invented and the sound is all the better for it. The whole album has an authenticity which would just simply have been lost with a more polished production.

Reed is on fine form throughout – preachin’ and hollerin’ as if his life depended on it, his gospel/soul vocals backed up with typically fiery Reed guitar. Opening track “Hold Out” blasts out of the speakers and sets the tempo for his most energetic albums (and one of the best) of his career to date.

2nd cut “Your Sins Will Find You Out” kick-starts with a typical Stax/Steve Cropper burst of short guitar before moving into the main song melody. There’s great guitar throughout this track and it’s immediately followed by the seriously funky “Cut Ya Down”.

Here’s a link to the official video for “Your Sins Will Find You Out”:

“Movin’” and the album’s title track “My Way Home” both go for a more subtle vocal pleading and the latter could well be the album’s standout track.

Here’s a link to the official video for “My Way Home”:

“Tomorrow’s Not Promised” has a classic 60s soul sound and is the poppiest (in a good way) track on the album.

On the album closer Eli asks “What Have We Done” and the answer, Eli, is to make one seriously good record. It’s well worth giving this album a listen.

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